Question

How qatar airways is handling and facing challenges?

a) Describe the situation before and after corona

b) What measures were taken for the following: pax, staff, terminal & airside

Answer 1

DOHA, Qatar — Qatar Airways continues to take firm steps in response to COVID-19 (coronavirus). The airline’s robust measures include amending its flight schedule, working with governments to take people home, and introducing new policies to ensure the health and safety of staff, and maintaining its vital cargo operations.

In addition, the airline continues to support the State of Qatar’s efforts to manage the coronavirus outbreak, and has acquired and transported 500,000 test kits, which will arrive in Doha today, and will donate these to local health services.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “At Qatar Airways we continue to work hard to take people home to their families, while also ensuring robust health and safety practices to limit the spread of coronavirus

We are adjusting our flight schedules on a daily basis, and since the outbreak of the virus we have stepped up our already robust hygiene practices. In these efforts, we do not work alone – I am grateful for the support we have received from local and national governments and entities, whom we are working in close partnership to overcome this pandemic.”

1.

Qatar Airways has implemented robust policies to ensure the health and safety of its passengers and employees. Cabin crew have received training on how to minimise their chances of contracting or spreading the infection, are thermally screened before the departure of flights and after their arrival, and are quarantined and tested if any colleagues or passengers on a flight shows any symptoms of infection or test positive for the virus. As the current pandemic has escalated, cabin crew have been authorised to wear surgical masks and disposable gloves.

In addition, Qatar Airways has revised its distribution of cabin crew on flights, sending two groups on short-haul and medium-haul flights – the first to manage the outbound trip, the second to manage the inbound trip. For long-haul flights, crew members who have to stay overnight in a foreign city can only travel in Qatar Airways-approved transport and must remain in their rooms, limiting human interactions.

In terms of passengers, Qatar Airways is encouraging social distancing where possible, especially on flights with lighter loads. Distancing is also implemented during the boarding process, ensuring passengers are allocated seats far apart from each other. The airline is also encouraging passengers to follow hygiene practices recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), such as regular hand washing and refraining from touching the face.

As an airline, Qatar Airways maintains the highest possible hygiene standards, which include the regular disinfection of aircraft, the use of cleaning products recommended by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and WHO.

Qatar Airways’ aircraft feature the most advanced air filtration systems, equipped with industrial-size HEPA filters that remove 99.97% of viral and bacterial contaminants from re-circulated air, providing the most effective protection against infection. All the airline’s onboard linen and blankets are washed, dried and pressed at microbial lethal temperatures, and then sealed into individual packaging by staff wearing disposable gloves

2.

The unexpected and dramatic effects of Covid-19 have hit the aviation industry severely. In order to deal with the new situation and mitigate the health and economic consequences, many questions need to be answered and new solutions developed. This concerns in particular the operational processes and procedures

The sharp decline in flight demand leads to falling revenues and requires airport management to implement adapted operational concepts and while reducting costs in the short term. Measures range from the adaptive deployment of personnel and the redesign of processes to the variable use of airport infrastructure and lead to significant deviations from normal operations. In addition, it is essential to ensure the health of passengers and staff and prepare for the coming gradual increase in flight operations. Social distancing, staff protection measures and additional processes have a massive impact on passenger flow, system capacity, transfer times and travel duration.

In combination a complex situation has to be planned, controlled and managed: changing demand and changed rules and processes in almost all parts of the system have to be implemented while at the same time high requirements on economic efficiency have to be met. For airport management the task is to plan and organize a smooth recovery of operations and minimizing the risks of disruptive operations while at the same making quick decisions and ensure continuous adaptation. At present by airports, airlines, associations, organizations and many other concrete measures are being elaborated and discussed. Below we give a collection of questions and suggestions from different sources.

thanks

PASSENGER CONFIDENCE IN SAFETY EFFECTIVENESS FOR HEALTH SAFETY The objective is to effectively reduce infection risks REQUIRED HEALTH SAFETY LEVEL The objective is to increase the passengers' wellbeing even with non-proven measures TIME HIGH AMOUNT OF PERMITTED TRAVELLERS The objective is to not limit the number of travellers REDUCTION ON FINANCIAL IMPACT The objective is to decide for cost-efficient solutions ENSURING HANDLING CAPACITY The objective is to minimize impact on thorughput capacity